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Montauk Monster

Added 16 years ago / Updated 6 days ago
Montauk-monster

Confirmed   58,270

PSRIM 118 6
onster
MYLENE VILLENEUVE 2009
RACCOON SKULL WITH MISSING TEETH www.animachina.com
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About • Origin • Spread • Search Interest • External References • Recent Images

About

Montauk Monster is a mysterious animal carcass that was discovered on a beach in Montauk, New York in July of 2008. A photograph of the animal spread quickly online, leading many to speculate about which species the creature belonged to.

Origin

On July 12th, 2008, New York resident Jenna Hewitt photographed a hairless animal carcass on a beach at Ditch Plains in Montauk, New York. On July 23rd, 2008, the photograph was published in an article titled "The Hound of Bonacville" in the East Hampton newspaper The Independent[1], which reported that some speculated it was a sea turtle missing its shell but both the Town Natural Resources Director Larry Penny and Doug Johnston of Bandit Trappings and Pest Control concluded that the animal was a raccoon missing its upper jaw.

10 THE INDEPENDENTaocicr 0athma The Hound of Bonacville By Kitty Merril So- what was it? What happened to Huffy?" Jay Sch Was it indeed the beloved, if entirely neiderman sobbed. a single tear trickling fictitious, Fluffy? down his cheek towards the side of his the torture of the doomed mouth he was talking out of at the mo- creature responsible for the unearthly ment. "He was happy and healthy during sounds emanating from the bowels of my administration Fluffy disappeared the historic Town Hal construction site? when the Democrats gained the major Theworker assigned to occasionally run ity on the East Hampton Town Board a backhoe back and forth in front of the site in an effort to give the llusion of Last week, fans of the adorable crit progress, reportedly adm itted to feeling ter feared the worst when a malformed spooked carcass washed up on the beach at Ditch OK none of that actually happened Plains in Montauk fomenting al man But imaginations did run a lite wild ner of speculation.and... and... last week after the corpse pictured on this page was found on the beach above Not to mention revulsion the high tide line in Montauk. Flies cavorted upon the naked corpse. Editor Rick Murphy thought perhaps Theoncerobust figure covered with soft it was Satan, and that the devil's demise and pettable fur, was, witnesses noted meant only good things would happen with dread, utterly absent its coat, save henceforth. But, since he was still at the occasional individual strand sticking the helm of the paper, staff argued the out, as if it had been skinned by an evil theory was flawed. tormentor This was found on the beach in Moatauk last week. Can yousay "Eww Some who saw it thought it might be a giant turtle sans shell, while others on Natural Resources Director wondered whether t wasn't an esaped Larry Penny and Doug Johnston, of mutant victim of diabolical experiments Bandit Trappings and Pest Control, both taken by the sea from Plum Island.It decmed the deceased a raccoon with its looked like it had a beak and molars, upper jaw missing and (shudder) human hands! Priorto contact from this paper, nooth A less fanciful observer speculated er local agencies were alerted to the grisly it was a raccoon someone killed and discovery. According to a member of the skinned-a portion ofthe remaining fur crowd of gawkers that gathered around on one leg appears to have been pulled the fly-rid dled carcass, someone took it down. That one was the closest conjec away...to be buried... we hope. ture affirmed by experts www.lirestaurants.com Easy to navigate Selected Menu's Listings by area Restaurant Review Listings by cuisine Special offers kmerGiniastend.conm

Spread

On July 29th, 2008, Gawker[2] published a post titled "Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk", citing an anonymous tipster's claim that there was "a government animal testing facility very close by in Long Island." The same day, Gawker[4] published a follow-up article titled "Montauk 'Dead Monster' Maybe Tied to Cartoon Network Show", revealing that the photo was sent to Gawker from an employee at the marketing company Evolutionary Media Group that may have been promoting the Cartoon Network show Cryptids are Real. Also on July 29th, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman coined the name "Montauk Monster" in a post on the blog Cryptomundo.[6] On July 30th, New York Magazine[3] published an article titled "Investigating the Montauk Monster: The Story Deepens!", which quoted the Evolutionary Media Group employee Alanna Navitski who denied that the photograph was part of a campaign:

"I got this e-mail and opened it from my girlfriend who works at Harris Publications, which has nothing to do with anything. Anyway, my girlfriend's sister was there with her friends and one of them took the picture. And we were like, 'This is the scariest shit we've ever seen.' And so -- I'm in marketing -- we were like, 'Maybe we should send it to a few blogs and see if anyone else is as freaked out as we are.' We had no idea that it would turn into this. Now it's literally a beast of its own. But it has nothing to do with any kind of campaign."

On August 1st, internet news blog BoingBoing[12] published an article titled “More on the Montauk Monster”, highlighting a new photograph of the creature from a different angle (shown below). The same day, the blog Montauk-Monster[5] was launched by New York resident Nicky Papers to serve as the resource site for news stories, theories and history of the cryptid.

Identification

On August 4th, 2008, Science Blogs[10] published a post titled "What was the Montauk Monster?", which speculated that the creature was a deceased raccoon of the species Procyon lotor. To illustrate the point, the article was accompanied by an edited photo of the Montauk Monster with a raccoon drawing overlaid, which was created by artist and Animachina[11] blogger Grant Niesner.

RACCOON SKULL WITH MISSING TEETH www.animachina.com

Fan Art

Photographs of the creature inspired many fan illustrations which can be found on the art sharing website DeviantArt.[9]
MYLENE VILLENEUVE 2009
PSRIM 118 6

Search Interest

Search query volume for "Montauk Monster" first rose in August of 2008 after the late July news coverage. The second peak in searches occurred when Animal Planet[8] placed the Montauk Monster at #4 in their "Top 10 Animal Stories of 2008" in December of 2008.

External References

[1] IndyEastEnd – Welcome to the Independent

[2] Gawker – Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk

[3] NY Mag – Investigating the Montauk Monster – The Story Deepens!

[4] Gawker – Montauk Dead Monster Maybe Tied to Cartoon Network Show

[5] Montauk-Monster.com – Montauk Monster – The Official Home of the Beast
fn6.

[6] Crytpmundo – Crytid Washes Ashore At Montauk

[7] Snopes – Montauk Monster

[8] Animal Planet – Top 10 Animal Stories of 2008

[9] DeviantArt – Montauk Monster

[10] Science Blogs – What was the Montauk monster?

[11] Animachina – Animachina

[12] BoingBoing – More on the Montauk Monster

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Montauk Monster

Montauk Monster

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About

Montauk Monster is a mysterious animal carcass that was discovered on a beach in Montauk, New York in July of 2008. A photograph of the animal spread quickly online, leading many to speculate about which species the creature belonged to.

Origin

On July 12th, 2008, New York resident Jenna Hewitt photographed a hairless animal carcass on a beach at Ditch Plains in Montauk, New York. On July 23rd, 2008, the photograph was published in an article titled "The Hound of Bonacville" in the East Hampton newspaper The Independent[1], which reported that some speculated it was a sea turtle missing its shell but both the Town Natural Resources Director Larry Penny and Doug Johnston of Bandit Trappings and Pest Control concluded that the animal was a raccoon missing its upper jaw.


10 THE INDEPENDENTaocicr 0athma The Hound of Bonacville By Kitty Merril So- what was it? What happened to Huffy?" Jay Sch Was it indeed the beloved, if entirely neiderman sobbed. a single tear trickling fictitious, Fluffy? down his cheek towards the side of his the torture of the doomed mouth he was talking out of at the mo- creature responsible for the unearthly ment. "He was happy and healthy during sounds emanating from the bowels of my administration Fluffy disappeared the historic Town Hal construction site? when the Democrats gained the major Theworker assigned to occasionally run ity on the East Hampton Town Board a backhoe back and forth in front of the site in an effort to give the llusion of Last week, fans of the adorable crit progress, reportedly adm itted to feeling ter feared the worst when a malformed spooked carcass washed up on the beach at Ditch OK none of that actually happened Plains in Montauk fomenting al man But imaginations did run a lite wild ner of speculation.and... and... last week after the corpse pictured on this page was found on the beach above Not to mention revulsion the high tide line in Montauk. Flies cavorted upon the naked corpse. Editor Rick Murphy thought perhaps Theoncerobust figure covered with soft it was Satan, and that the devil's demise and pettable fur, was, witnesses noted meant only good things would happen with dread, utterly absent its coat, save henceforth. But, since he was still at the occasional individual strand sticking the helm of the paper, staff argued the out, as if it had been skinned by an evil theory was flawed. tormentor This was found on the beach in Moatauk last week. Can yousay "Eww Some who saw it thought it might be a giant turtle sans shell, while others on Natural Resources Director wondered whether t wasn't an esaped Larry Penny and Doug Johnston, of mutant victim of diabolical experiments Bandit Trappings and Pest Control, both taken by the sea from Plum Island.It decmed the deceased a raccoon with its looked like it had a beak and molars, upper jaw missing and (shudder) human hands! Priorto contact from this paper, nooth A less fanciful observer speculated er local agencies were alerted to the grisly it was a raccoon someone killed and discovery. According to a member of the skinned-a portion ofthe remaining fur crowd of gawkers that gathered around on one leg appears to have been pulled the fly-rid dled carcass, someone took it down. That one was the closest conjec away...to be buried... we hope. ture affirmed by experts www.lirestaurants.com Easy to navigate Selected Menu's Listings by area Restaurant Review Listings by cuisine Special offers kmerGiniastend.conm

Spread

On July 29th, 2008, Gawker[2] published a post titled "Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk", citing an anonymous tipster's claim that there was "a government animal testing facility very close by in Long Island." The same day, Gawker[4] published a follow-up article titled "Montauk 'Dead Monster' Maybe Tied to Cartoon Network Show", revealing that the photo was sent to Gawker from an employee at the marketing company Evolutionary Media Group that may have been promoting the Cartoon Network show Cryptids are Real. Also on July 29th, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman coined the name "Montauk Monster" in a post on the blog Cryptomundo.[6] On July 30th, New York Magazine[3] published an article titled "Investigating the Montauk Monster: The Story Deepens!", which quoted the Evolutionary Media Group employee Alanna Navitski who denied that the photograph was part of a campaign:

"I got this e-mail and opened it from my girlfriend who works at Harris Publications, which has nothing to do with anything. Anyway, my girlfriend's sister was there with her friends and one of them took the picture. And we were like, 'This is the scariest shit we've ever seen.' And so -- I'm in marketing -- we were like, 'Maybe we should send it to a few blogs and see if anyone else is as freaked out as we are.' We had no idea that it would turn into this. Now it's literally a beast of its own. But it has nothing to do with any kind of campaign."

On August 1st, internet news blog BoingBoing[12] published an article titled “More on the Montauk Monster”, highlighting a new photograph of the creature from a different angle (shown below). The same day, the blog Montauk-Monster[5] was launched by New York resident Nicky Papers to serve as the resource site for news stories, theories and history of the cryptid.



Identification

On August 4th, 2008, Science Blogs[10] published a post titled "What was the Montauk Monster?", which speculated that the creature was a deceased raccoon of the species Procyon lotor. To illustrate the point, the article was accompanied by an edited photo of the Montauk Monster with a raccoon drawing overlaid, which was created by artist and Animachina[11] blogger Grant Niesner.


RACCOON SKULL WITH MISSING TEETH www.animachina.com

Fan Art

Photographs of the creature inspired many fan illustrations which can be found on the art sharing website DeviantArt.[9]


MYLENE VILLENEUVE 2009
PSRIM 118 6

Search Interest

Search query volume for "Montauk Monster" first rose in August of 2008 after the late July news coverage. The second peak in searches occurred when Animal Planet[8] placed the Montauk Monster at #4 in their "Top 10 Animal Stories of 2008" in December of 2008.

External References

[1] IndyEastEnd – Welcome to the Independent

[2] Gawker – Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk

[3] NY Mag – Investigating the Montauk Monster – The Story Deepens!

[4] Gawker – Montauk Dead Monster Maybe Tied to Cartoon Network Show

[5] Montauk-Monster.com – Montauk Monster – The Official Home of the Beast
fn6.

[6] Crytpmundo – Crytid Washes Ashore At Montauk

[7] Snopes – Montauk Monster

[8] Animal Planet – Top 10 Animal Stories of 2008

[9] DeviantArt – Montauk Monster

[10] Science Blogs – What was the Montauk monster?

[11] Animachina – Animachina

[12] BoingBoing – More on the Montauk Monster

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